Hmmm, i got this sucker last week second-hand and have nearly figgerd it out....programming is very, er....unique. Very cool drum computer /drumgrid, _randomizer_ and enough freakin' knobs to keep you totally distracted from actually writing music! The vocoder is very sweet, but haven't had much success with the XLR mic input - anybody know what's the deal or how good/reliable the onboard pre-amp is? I've had better luck routing a mic through my console's pre-amp first then send it through the analyze input instead....

Most of the Sirius' sounds are ultra left-of-field. Crazy whacked out kick drums & other misc. filtered and f'd up perc.; some of the basses and pads remind me of my old Korg Poly 800 MKII...ahh, now there was a synth so easy to tweak a chimpanzee could program it. Pretty clean sounding at times, but a $30 fuzz pedal can fix that.

The learning curve is a bit higher than the norm, but the manual is actually pretty well written.... very fun to dick around with live, too. A meat n potatoes synth for techno, drum n bass, electronica blah blah blah etc etc. But you've already read that somewhere I'm sure....

Anybody know is the OS has been updated yet?

Rating: 4 out of 5
posted Wednesday-May-05-1999 at 00:22

Jimmy
a part-timer user
from USA
writes:

Well, one day i was jus lookin around in guitar center and then i saw this weird analogue lookin synth sittin in the corner. Now if it has knobs on it, i usually go give a tweakin'. after about 15 minutes i was very much impressed. Not because of the sound, but because of the overall quality of the synth. Its definatly not the "fattest" soundin synth iver heard(i prefer my Jp-8000) but its got some pretty cool sounds (i dont care bout fatness, m' music is synthpop..its all a matter of how warm the pads are and how cool the sound FX are. what i really like is the sequencer, drums, and vocoder built in. if the price was jus a lil bit lower than $1249 (yikes!) than i would definatly buy it. I would defintly choose this over the Jp-8000 for live stuff (no sequencer or drums on the JP)...overall i like the sound of this instrument and i hope to pick this one up in the near futuure....4 outta 5

Rating: 3 out of 5
posted Saturday-Jan-02-1999 at 23:30

Stefan
a hobbyist user
from Germany
writes:

Ok, the SIRIUS is my first Synth, so I can't compare it with other famous gears, but I really like it!

For me as a beginner it was quite easy to learn how to use this thingy (thanx to the great manual!) and its really fun to play with all thos knobs, easy to edit drumlines and all the other stuff.

recording with cubase workx well (setup also explained in the manual!) and with all those soft-synth you are a really happy frood, coz you can use all those knobs to controll the soft-synth via MIDI...great fun!

The price is also good (2000,- DM thats 1200 $) so go and by one ! :-)

Rating: 5 out of 5
posted Wednesday-Nov-18-1998 at 21:37

GECKO
a hobbyist user
from GERMANY
writes:

Very cool Workstation-concept. DJ's just try the BEAT-RECOGNITION-SYSTEM !! It really works fine with techno and hiphop stuff. Vocoder is very usefull for experimental stuff. Try another micro instead of this cheap micro in the package, the robot voices sounds than better. Use own Vocoder programs like Micro=Analyse PAD SOUND from synth-section = Carrier : The results are very cool. The sounds of the drum-section are very cool and kicking. The synthesizer sounds are very chillin and analog-like. Try the combination of SOLO sound combined as carrier with the vocoder as filter-box.....CRAZY. ...and you can record all this morphing sounds with Cubase..!!

BUY ONE NOW !!! IT'S WORTH THE MONEY

Rating: 5 out of 5
posted Wednesday-Nov-11-1998 at 08:29

Scott Solmonson
a professional user
from USA Baby!
writes:

Finally got my Sirius.

What do you want to know? How about it's shortcomings- (That I've noticed in the 2 weeks I've had it)

1) Only 1 set of outputs- no external FX routing here. AND there's NO distortion algorithm. You *can* overload the filter, but it doesn't get very grungy. 2) Vocoder is kind of weak. I haven't tweaked it too much but the presets all sound the same. Quasimidi says they'll be releasing updated programs for it. You *can* change parameters for each of the 11 bands but it's a PITA! Everything else on the Sirius is easy to modify, but the vocoder is PAINFULL. 3) Only one LFO- Not a big deal, but 2 would be nice. 4) The sequencer has routinely glitched while step programming the synth parts. It will choke and play the same note over and over. The fix?- Stop and start the sequencer. 5) Realtime record in monophonic mode doesn't work correctly. IE- if your just playing, you hold down "C", press "A", release "A" , "C" is played. (You're still holding it down) If you real-time record, the last "C" isn't played.

But- it's not all bad. Actually, it's mostly good. 2,4,and 5 are software fixes. 3 I can live with. 1 could possibly be an add-on later.

Soundwise the Sirius is chillin. Bass is crunchy. Lead is screeching, but could be a little thrashier (my preference). Sending the outs through some tube overdrive to my sampler will fix that. All the drums are good, but you will have to tweak them a little to get them "just right". The vocoder doesn't really impress me when using the mic, but when piped internally you can do some crazy shit.

I can throw shit together REAL quick on this thing, and that's the best thing about it.